Trump-Backed Candidates Win Election Day 4-0; Is This the Start of a Nationwide Trump Comeback?
Courtesy: Nikkei Asia
You’ve probably heard about Virginia’s massive political earthquake.
In what was formerly a Blue state, a Republican has gained the governorship.
But you haven’t heard anything about how Trump’s endorsements have fared.
They performed admirably, as it turned out.
President Trump had a clean sweep.
In Friday night’s election, all four of Trump’s endorsements won their races.
Glenn Youngkin, Mike Carey, Vito Fosella, and Esteban Bovo were all endorsed by Trump.
What is the importance of this?
It shows that President Trump maintains control of the Republican Party.
The Democrats campaigned against Trump.
They focused all of the elections on Trump, and they lost.
What does that indicate?
This seems to indicate that Trump’s brand and popularity are on the rise, particularly as the Biden government implodes with disaster after disaster.
The Washington Examiner confirms Trump’s influence and popularity:
*Yes, Virginia (and the rest of the country), Donald Trump matters.
With his post-election popularity and influence at the highest, the former president’s four endorsed candidates in Tuesday’s elections all won, highlighted by Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, the rookie politician who beat lifetime pol Terry McAuliffe.
In the elections, two Trump-backed candidates also beat two of President Joe Biden’s endorsed challengers — the victories seen by some Republicans as a sign of 2020 election buyer’s remorse and a 2024 preview.
“The power of President Trump’s endorsement is undeniable,” said Brian Jack, the former Trump White House political director.
“President Trump continues to be a huge boost for Republicans across the country,” added Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna, McDaniel.
Trump has already begun endorsing other candidates up in 2022, notably Herschel Walker running for the Georgia Senate seat.
In Virginia last night, Trump endorsed Youngkin, and Youngkin embraced the support. But he also kept the former president at arm’s length as McAuliffe tried to build liberal support by bashing the link.
Expect media pundits to try to twist this against Trump in the coming weeks.
Even “Republican” operatives claim Youngkin won without Trump, but this is false.
Youngkin received support from the MAGA base after Trump endorsed him.
Don’t forget that Democrats framed the election around Trump.
If this contest was truly about Trump, as they claimed, Trump would have won.
By a wide margin.
But now that Trump has won, they’re attempting to retreat.
Just don’t forget what CNN published a few weeks ago:
*Terry McAuliffe may be running against Glenn Youngkin, but his ultimate rhetorical opponent in the closing days of Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial race is a Republican who lost a year ago.
“We don’t need a Donald Trump in khakis,” McAuliffe said of Youngkin while launching his campaign’s final bus tour on Friday in Arlington.
And voters at McAuliffe’s rally on Thursday evening with Vice President Kamala Harris clearly got the message.
“He is a bad photocopy of Trump,” Nelson Zaragoza, a mechanic from Stafford, Virginia, said of Youngkin, comparing him to former President Donald Trump. “He supports everything that Trump has been trying to push, he is doing the same thing.”
The level Democratic campaigns in Virginia have focused on Trump over the last few months has turned the off-year elections into the biggest test yet for whether the former President, who motivated historic Democratic turnout for the years he was either on the ballot or in power, still motivates the party’s base to vote in extraordinary numbers.
This lesson, determined by how tight Virginia’s races for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general end up on November 2, will reverberate within the Democratic Party for years, as both official party committees and outside organizations try to understand how to motivate voters after four years of Trump in the White House.
McAuliffe, a candidate who rarely does subtlety, has not minced words about tying Youngkin to Trump, who remains unpopular in Virginia a year after losing the commonwealth by 10 points.
His ads have pilloried Youngkin as a Trump acolyte, the former Democratic governor has repeatedly called him a Trump “wannabe,” and, in the closing weeks of the campaign, McAuliffe is warning that Youngkin and Trump are “running together” and the former President “wants to use this election to get him off the mat to get him ready for 2024.”
That tells you all you need to know.
The Democrats may try to twist this to their benefit.
They did, however, campaign against Trump.
And they were defeated.
That is the fact.
